Final word

Just got final word back from the training hall, I was accepted into the apprenticeship program, no jokes this time. I thought I had made it in 3 weeks ago when I went to the grounds, but they had one more cut. I was ranked #2 out of 100 people who made it that far, only 50 were accepted. Ready for work.

congrats man...soon as you get your CDL you'll be the best punch-list guy in the west...HAHA, then we'll face off this summer because now that i have mine i'll be the greatest in the East, backhoe and dump truck at a different job everyday fixing broken things before the house sells, best work out there

Thanks Tim. It should be one hell of a ride, that's for sure. The training at the grounds IS the best there is, the instructors are awesome and my 7 weeks of training at the grounds is going to teach me a lot. It's amazing how much you learn when you're not worried about screwing something up. Allows you to try things you may not have tried before, do things a little differently, etc.. I never would have run a 3 lever Case on a job, I hadn't any experience on one before the last go around I went to. Now I can say I've done that and could probably be okay at it until I got a few more hours under my belt. The training grounds is a huge sandbox really, all you're doing is pulling levers while learning some new tricks in a zero stress atmosphere, it's basically play time for me.

Sounds like you off to a new adventure! One of my helpers tells me when things aren't going to good at the job,that it's not a job,but an adventure.

At the time it seems like a impossible job ,but after it is done it,it was adventure.

Where will your actual training area be at? What part of Wash?

When i was station in the Army i was at Ft. Lewis and went to Yakima for tank training.It was like day and night in the terrain.Dessert like at Yakima.Dusty tank trails,with dust so deep it was like driving in water on the tank trails.

The training grounds are in Ellensburg, WA. Ellensburg is home to Central Washington University, my buddy goes to school there and he promises me many a fine female if I made it back for the 7 weeks of training.

We are provided meals and a hotel room for the duration, not a bad deal but it will be tough money wise for a while. Most of the guys have to quit their jobs entirely, I'm going to keep 3 days a week at the restaurant, Friday, Saturday, and 1 shift Sunday morning. It's going to cut my income in half for about 2 months, but it'll be worth it. After that, it's off to work, praying for 70 hour weeks.

The tank grounds in Yakima are pretty wild I hear. I've always wanted to see what that was about, but as a civilian, good luck I suppose. Yakima is much like where I'm from in Chelan, dry as hell, nasty territory. The only good thing about Chelan is the lake and if you get up in elevation, it breaks into forested lands. I sure do miss the eastside, but this is where the money is.